Usability March 26, 2006

Last night I had a discussion with a new friend at Intuit about Intuit QuickBooks Point of Sale. I'm pretty straightforward and unbridled; I say what I think and did last night. I think QuickBooks could be simpler, as good as it is. And so does he, I'm sure, as do many people at Intuit. It's a great product with lots of stuff, but it's become so big it's easy to get lost in it. It's still easier than any other accounting software package. It was great to meet him and his family, and the homecooked meal was a nice respite from hotel food.

We're working on a redesign of GiftWorks to make some things more obvious. Most things are, but as I've said before, we've missed it on a few things. Today I met up with Vic Cho in downtown Burlingame; Vic is an adviser to the company and a friend, and after chatting and then looking at some pianos he went on his way and I stopped into the Apple store.

I've lusted after an iPod for some time. Not so much that I want to be part of the whole Apple thing--I don't--but just because the design and navigation are supposed to be very slick. I tried a bunch of the computers, including the new dualcore notebook. I agree with the critics; "MacBook" isn't a great name, but it does get the main Apple brand back into the mobile lineup.

I tried the iPod and figured out the navigation pretty quickly. What I couldn't find--and looked for--was how to adjust the volume. After a few minutes of trying a bunch of things, I finally asked for help. A very well-versed, young sales guy informed me--move your finger around the center navvy thing when the song is showing. I said oh, ok, easy enough, but it wasn't obvious. He said it had a quick-start manual and they offered Getting Started classes in the morning  before the store opened.

We're trying to make things as obvious as possible in GiftWorks. Sometimes we don't follow PC software conventions, because frankly, they aren't obvious. We have Getting Started Classes, and a very thorough manual. But I suspect with a few months of work on usability, we can make everything obvious and easy to use, not just most of it. GiftWorks is really great--we do love it. But we're also tough critics, like many of you, and through that process of paying attention to details and your feedback, we make very good software even better. It's still the best fundraising software for most nonprofits, but we'll make it better.

So here's the story: GiftWorks 2007 is all about improvements. Not necessarily more features, just more obvious paths to existing features. The obvious stuff where you can't believe we missed something given how good GiftWorks really is. In May, we release GiftWorks Volunteers, which will make it obvious and easy to manage volunteers and the time they contribute. And in late May, we'll release an improved QuickBooks integration, so it's obvious and easy.

let me know what you think we should do to make GiftWorks easier to use by clicking on Comments below. Thanks!

Comments

Charlie,
It's great stuff. I know you have read my posts. Get the quickbooks stuff out quick, boy did I struggle, It wasn't obvious for me. But, everday I get deeper and deeper in this wonderful program. Keep up the improving on a great program. I have 10,184 donor records now had almost 1400 donors this year, up from 1100 last year.

Will start a newletter or some type of contact with donors now that we have this program to touch base with them a couple of times a year. Hopefully, will help in the future.

Thanks for all the good people and the excellent customer service your folks give.

Doug Picard, Treasurer

I'm disappointed with GiftWorks. It's not easy or obvious. However, we can't afford something else, so I hope things get better or we raise more money to buy a better program.

David, I'd like to learn more about what you don't find easy or obvious, and see if perhaps one of the classes might make a difference for you. It's hard to respond to blanket statements, and we get so many positive comments...can you elaborate?